Bird of a Wing - Chapter 3: Chapter 3
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It had been a fair warning, Ryraso mused in retrospect. Tai'ray had been unwilling to let the humans go without a fight, but the Winglord had also been unable to do anything without insulting the humans in his care. That didn't mean the Winglord wasn't trying to do everything in his power to drag them back.
As Ryraso had warned, he hadn't been the only person to leave that night. From the reports which Ryraso had read since it was clear that no one was quite sure how many humans had fled the city of Navat in total, it was in the hundreds. It was a similar story all over the region controlled by the k'nairi. By the end of the week, almost three-quarters of the original human population had returned to the human lands. Most of the caw seemed to agree that those who had stayed were either mated to a group of k'nairi who were unwilling to rebel against the Winglord, or simply had nowhere to go to.
Since they had left Navat the Winglord had put several things into place to ensure their return, and not only their return but their safety from the D'mar troops too; which confused more than a few people. The k'nairi had quickly left their mark on the war, gaining a reputation for being brutal, bloodthirsty creatures who would rip apart even children if they were in their way. That particular rumour had been quickly squashed by the k'nairi caw, and by the D'mar k'nairi too. Brutal and bloodthirsty maybe, but the k'nairi loved children too much to harm one.
As Ryraso had warned Tai'ray, he joined the opposing side to the Dmar, the Namya. He worked his way up the ranks and gained a reputation for being the best at his trade, but also for having a furious temper. He made few friends at first, mostly because the rumours of the fact he had lived with the k'nairi meant few trusted him.
He wasn't alone with that problem, a lot of healers were under scrutiny for having studied under the k'nairi. Luckily for him, he had unexpected friends in high places. The other survivor of his village happened to be the bodyguard to High Priest Inai himself. Isst wasn't the only one from his past before the k'nairi who was in with the upper circle of the Namya force either, meaning he was safe from most judgments. Between Isst and Wiljam, Wiljam being an inventor with a knack for blowing even the most everyday objects up, most tried not to get on his bad side. His old friends kept him safe from the people who would try to accuse him of being a spy, however being a doctor in wartime also gave him a lot of credit and respect.
Few doctors survived long in wars and he had already saved a great many people who would have died if they had been taken to anyone with skills lesser than his own, on both sides of the war. Some might have accused him of something for treating enemy soldiers as well as Namya but the High Priest had been very vocal about the treatment of enemy soldiers and how if they were to expect their own prisoners to be treated well, they had to treat the D'mar soldiers well too.
Ryraso, like many former human k'nairi, resented the fact the k'nairi had joined the D'mar, but it didn't stop him missing the winged people. He missed the forests and the singing which could be heard there. He missed not being at war, but he had few illusions about how the city would be now. He doubted it was as peaceful as when he left. His life now certainly wasn't.
"I'm actually getting confused about how you two are continuing to exist without seriously fucking yourselves up," Ryraso snarled at two young men who were sitting in front of him. He had spent the first few years working at a less than stellar outpost in the middle of nowhere. They fought D'mar a lot and as the only real doctor there Ryraso had to work very hard to keep everyone healthy and fit. Something which wasn't helped by the two troublemakers in front of him.
Sayskel and Kelenn, a pair of frontliner twins with personality disorders as far as Ryraso was concerned. To make matters worse they had been born in one of the few areas of Awacia which had more alchemy than magic and promptly meant they had some incredibly frustrating extras abilities than most magicless humans. Due to the war, however, the area was now destroyed and along with it the knowledge was lost. Another casualty of war, the few pieces of technology which put the people without magic on an even playing field with those who did.
The upshot of this as far as Ryraso was concerned was that people like the twins were also unlikely to exist again. Implants were not things he ever wanted to deal with again as long as he lived. The k'nairi link had been bad enough to deal with but the artificial link that bound the twins together seemed to have the added side effect of making the twins feel like they were immortal.
Using their implants as an advantage the twins had developed their own fighting style which was deadly to everyone involved. Synchronised fighting always was but at least the sodding k'nairi also learned their limits before diving into battle.
"Unlike you twits!" Ryraso cursed as he realised most of his internal rant he had actually said out loud to the pair. The twins sitting and watching him with a seemingly unaffected look on their faces, used to his rants by now. The truth was they were the only ones in the unit that Ryraso could stand for any length of time so they had heard most of the rants before.
"Ryraso, cool it. It wasn't that bad. We've had much worse injuries," Sayskel said calmly in the break before Ryraso could start up again. Sayskel was the more outgoing of the twins and the one most lightly to charm you before stealing everything you owned. He gave Ryraso his most disarming smile to try to help his case. "Just some bruises and scratches," he reassured
"We'll be fine Ryraso, but we had to try to impress people today," Kelenn said in a more apologetic tone, his hand not moving from where he was holding an ice pack to his eye. The manoeuvre they had done in the last skirmish had ended with Kelenn landed head first onto an enemy gun butt, gaining him what would likely be a nasty black eye.
Sayskel in many ways was right. The twins would be stuck on light duties for a few days but they were still fit to work. A fact which made Ryraso want to both scream in frustration and sigh in relief. He had honestly thought this time that Kelenn had broken his neck the way the man had landed.
"I'm sure falling from that height and landing on your head impressed them Kelenn," Ryraso said almost coldly, knowing who exactly Kelenn meant. Some members of the elite squad were about looking for new talent. "Certainly impressed me. Why I keep putting you two back together, I'll never know," he sighed, sitting down heavily on his metal chair. As uncomfortable as it was it was better than standing at that moment. The twins glanced at each other slightly worried.
"Ryraso," Sayskel shifted over and wrapped an arm around his shoulders comfortingly. "That one's easy. You like us and we keep dickheads like Cliff from bothering you," He grinned light-heartedly, his eyes glimmering with emotion.
"People still bothering you Ry?" a voice boomed from behind them with some authority behind the words.
Kelenn and Sayskel stood to attention, Kelenn dropping the ice pack in the action. Ryraso glanced over his shoulder and shrugged. "No more than any other medic with k'nairi training," he drawled, sizing the man behind up with an unreadable eye. "You don't look half bad old timer," he grinned.
"Only a few years older than you Ry," laughed Isst, clapping Ryraso on the shoulder. "Good to see you in the flesh," he added, kissing Ryraso's forehead. Both twins, to their credit, didn't do anything as juvenile as gasp but their expressions were clearly curious.
"Good to see you too Isst," Ryraso smiled, his shoulder still heavy but his smile was considerably warmer than before. "And you're the one who had already lost his hair," he teased, flipping his own slightly too long hair back over his shoulder.
"Give it a few more years," Isst countered before looking at the twins with a considerably more official and serious look. "At ease," he commanded, switching from friendly to on duty easily. The twins fell into the stance, Ryraso whistling impressed by how willing the twins were to obey Isst. They normally avoided obeying orders. Isst looked them up and down before nodding to himself. "I hadn't connected the reports of your skills to Ry's complaints about troublemaker twins," he commented.
"Complaints? Sir?" Sayskel said in an amusingly nervous tone.
Ryraso shrugged. "We were comparing the antics of the troops in our care. No names of course," he added in a grim tone. "Still, you two seem to make the most interesting of stories." He crossed his legs and leant on his elbows. "Still Isst. I do hope this visit is to tell me you are taking these two numbskulls," Ryraso commented.
"Afraid so," Isst agreed, both twins looking up with an excited twinkle in their eyes. "I had some idea of their history from their cousin."
"Taidra?" Sayskel blinked, "Is he with you too, sir?"
"Not here, no, but he's on the team being assembled," Isst acknowledged. "Go pack up," he ordered. Both twins moved but Kelenn paused at the door, looking back at Isst and Ryraso.
"Is Ry coming?" he asked rather bluntly.
"Kelenn," Ryraso said in a scolding tone, "I'm needed here."
Isst smiled and tapped his nose. Kelenn gave him a serious look before nodding and leaving the room. "He's the serious one then," he murmured, sitting on the bed next to Ryraso's chair. "The one to watch for berserker syndrome."
"They're good men," Ryraso said almost defensively, Isst gave a noise of amusement.
"Not denying that Ryraso," Isst chuckled before his expression changed again. "It is good to see you, though. I had hoped given your skills our paths would have crossed sooner than this. Wiljam isn't exactly an easy man to keep in top shape and while we have had a stream of healers through, any time your name comes up you get rejected," Isst's voice was dark and serious, clearly unhappy with the situation.
"I'm k'nairi trained. It makes sense," Ryraso smiled sadly. What once opened doors for him was now closing them. Everyone knew the k'nairi wanted the people who had left them back and many of the senior tacticians didn't trust that any of the caw were completely on the Namya side.
"I may have done something about it this time, though," Isst admitted, tilting his head. "The birds trained good healers and given the types of people being assembled we are going to need the best."
"It won't work Isst," Ryraso commented. "You won't get it past the council."
"Good thing it's not the council picking the team then," a voice commented from behind him. An unfamiliar but gentle voice with enough presence in it to make Ryraso sit up straight automatically. Ryraso blinked and looked darkly at Isst who seemed almost smug. He had been ambushed.
"High Priest Inai," Ryraso said calmly as he stood up and turned to face the man he had been following for the last four years of his life. "It is a pleasure to meet you at last."
Inai tilted his head with a serene smile. "Likewise Ryraso. I think I have a job to offer you."
As Ryraso had warned, he hadn't been the only person to leave that night. From the reports which Ryraso had read since it was clear that no one was quite sure how many humans had fled the city of Navat in total, it was in the hundreds. It was a similar story all over the region controlled by the k'nairi. By the end of the week, almost three-quarters of the original human population had returned to the human lands. Most of the caw seemed to agree that those who had stayed were either mated to a group of k'nairi who were unwilling to rebel against the Winglord, or simply had nowhere to go to.
Since they had left Navat the Winglord had put several things into place to ensure their return, and not only their return but their safety from the D'mar troops too; which confused more than a few people. The k'nairi had quickly left their mark on the war, gaining a reputation for being brutal, bloodthirsty creatures who would rip apart even children if they were in their way. That particular rumour had been quickly squashed by the k'nairi caw, and by the D'mar k'nairi too. Brutal and bloodthirsty maybe, but the k'nairi loved children too much to harm one.
As Ryraso had warned Tai'ray, he joined the opposing side to the Dmar, the Namya. He worked his way up the ranks and gained a reputation for being the best at his trade, but also for having a furious temper. He made few friends at first, mostly because the rumours of the fact he had lived with the k'nairi meant few trusted him.
He wasn't alone with that problem, a lot of healers were under scrutiny for having studied under the k'nairi. Luckily for him, he had unexpected friends in high places. The other survivor of his village happened to be the bodyguard to High Priest Inai himself. Isst wasn't the only one from his past before the k'nairi who was in with the upper circle of the Namya force either, meaning he was safe from most judgments. Between Isst and Wiljam, Wiljam being an inventor with a knack for blowing even the most everyday objects up, most tried not to get on his bad side. His old friends kept him safe from the people who would try to accuse him of being a spy, however being a doctor in wartime also gave him a lot of credit and respect.
Few doctors survived long in wars and he had already saved a great many people who would have died if they had been taken to anyone with skills lesser than his own, on both sides of the war. Some might have accused him of something for treating enemy soldiers as well as Namya but the High Priest had been very vocal about the treatment of enemy soldiers and how if they were to expect their own prisoners to be treated well, they had to treat the D'mar soldiers well too.
Ryraso, like many former human k'nairi, resented the fact the k'nairi had joined the D'mar, but it didn't stop him missing the winged people. He missed the forests and the singing which could be heard there. He missed not being at war, but he had few illusions about how the city would be now. He doubted it was as peaceful as when he left. His life now certainly wasn't.
"I'm actually getting confused about how you two are continuing to exist without seriously fucking yourselves up," Ryraso snarled at two young men who were sitting in front of him. He had spent the first few years working at a less than stellar outpost in the middle of nowhere. They fought D'mar a lot and as the only real doctor there Ryraso had to work very hard to keep everyone healthy and fit. Something which wasn't helped by the two troublemakers in front of him.
Sayskel and Kelenn, a pair of frontliner twins with personality disorders as far as Ryraso was concerned. To make matters worse they had been born in one of the few areas of Awacia which had more alchemy than magic and promptly meant they had some incredibly frustrating extras abilities than most magicless humans. Due to the war, however, the area was now destroyed and along with it the knowledge was lost. Another casualty of war, the few pieces of technology which put the people without magic on an even playing field with those who did.
The upshot of this as far as Ryraso was concerned was that people like the twins were also unlikely to exist again. Implants were not things he ever wanted to deal with again as long as he lived. The k'nairi link had been bad enough to deal with but the artificial link that bound the twins together seemed to have the added side effect of making the twins feel like they were immortal.
Using their implants as an advantage the twins had developed their own fighting style which was deadly to everyone involved. Synchronised fighting always was but at least the sodding k'nairi also learned their limits before diving into battle.
"Unlike you twits!" Ryraso cursed as he realised most of his internal rant he had actually said out loud to the pair. The twins sitting and watching him with a seemingly unaffected look on their faces, used to his rants by now. The truth was they were the only ones in the unit that Ryraso could stand for any length of time so they had heard most of the rants before.
"Ryraso, cool it. It wasn't that bad. We've had much worse injuries," Sayskel said calmly in the break before Ryraso could start up again. Sayskel was the more outgoing of the twins and the one most lightly to charm you before stealing everything you owned. He gave Ryraso his most disarming smile to try to help his case. "Just some bruises and scratches," he reassured
"We'll be fine Ryraso, but we had to try to impress people today," Kelenn said in a more apologetic tone, his hand not moving from where he was holding an ice pack to his eye. The manoeuvre they had done in the last skirmish had ended with Kelenn landed head first onto an enemy gun butt, gaining him what would likely be a nasty black eye.
Sayskel in many ways was right. The twins would be stuck on light duties for a few days but they were still fit to work. A fact which made Ryraso want to both scream in frustration and sigh in relief. He had honestly thought this time that Kelenn had broken his neck the way the man had landed.
"I'm sure falling from that height and landing on your head impressed them Kelenn," Ryraso said almost coldly, knowing who exactly Kelenn meant. Some members of the elite squad were about looking for new talent. "Certainly impressed me. Why I keep putting you two back together, I'll never know," he sighed, sitting down heavily on his metal chair. As uncomfortable as it was it was better than standing at that moment. The twins glanced at each other slightly worried.
"Ryraso," Sayskel shifted over and wrapped an arm around his shoulders comfortingly. "That one's easy. You like us and we keep dickheads like Cliff from bothering you," He grinned light-heartedly, his eyes glimmering with emotion.
"People still bothering you Ry?" a voice boomed from behind them with some authority behind the words.
Kelenn and Sayskel stood to attention, Kelenn dropping the ice pack in the action. Ryraso glanced over his shoulder and shrugged. "No more than any other medic with k'nairi training," he drawled, sizing the man behind up with an unreadable eye. "You don't look half bad old timer," he grinned.
"Only a few years older than you Ry," laughed Isst, clapping Ryraso on the shoulder. "Good to see you in the flesh," he added, kissing Ryraso's forehead. Both twins, to their credit, didn't do anything as juvenile as gasp but their expressions were clearly curious.
"Good to see you too Isst," Ryraso smiled, his shoulder still heavy but his smile was considerably warmer than before. "And you're the one who had already lost his hair," he teased, flipping his own slightly too long hair back over his shoulder.
"Give it a few more years," Isst countered before looking at the twins with a considerably more official and serious look. "At ease," he commanded, switching from friendly to on duty easily. The twins fell into the stance, Ryraso whistling impressed by how willing the twins were to obey Isst. They normally avoided obeying orders. Isst looked them up and down before nodding to himself. "I hadn't connected the reports of your skills to Ry's complaints about troublemaker twins," he commented.
"Complaints? Sir?" Sayskel said in an amusingly nervous tone.
Ryraso shrugged. "We were comparing the antics of the troops in our care. No names of course," he added in a grim tone. "Still, you two seem to make the most interesting of stories." He crossed his legs and leant on his elbows. "Still Isst. I do hope this visit is to tell me you are taking these two numbskulls," Ryraso commented.
"Afraid so," Isst agreed, both twins looking up with an excited twinkle in their eyes. "I had some idea of their history from their cousin."
"Taidra?" Sayskel blinked, "Is he with you too, sir?"
"Not here, no, but he's on the team being assembled," Isst acknowledged. "Go pack up," he ordered. Both twins moved but Kelenn paused at the door, looking back at Isst and Ryraso.
"Is Ry coming?" he asked rather bluntly.
"Kelenn," Ryraso said in a scolding tone, "I'm needed here."
Isst smiled and tapped his nose. Kelenn gave him a serious look before nodding and leaving the room. "He's the serious one then," he murmured, sitting on the bed next to Ryraso's chair. "The one to watch for berserker syndrome."
"They're good men," Ryraso said almost defensively, Isst gave a noise of amusement.
"Not denying that Ryraso," Isst chuckled before his expression changed again. "It is good to see you, though. I had hoped given your skills our paths would have crossed sooner than this. Wiljam isn't exactly an easy man to keep in top shape and while we have had a stream of healers through, any time your name comes up you get rejected," Isst's voice was dark and serious, clearly unhappy with the situation.
"I'm k'nairi trained. It makes sense," Ryraso smiled sadly. What once opened doors for him was now closing them. Everyone knew the k'nairi wanted the people who had left them back and many of the senior tacticians didn't trust that any of the caw were completely on the Namya side.
"I may have done something about it this time, though," Isst admitted, tilting his head. "The birds trained good healers and given the types of people being assembled we are going to need the best."
"It won't work Isst," Ryraso commented. "You won't get it past the council."
"Good thing it's not the council picking the team then," a voice commented from behind him. An unfamiliar but gentle voice with enough presence in it to make Ryraso sit up straight automatically. Ryraso blinked and looked darkly at Isst who seemed almost smug. He had been ambushed.
"High Priest Inai," Ryraso said calmly as he stood up and turned to face the man he had been following for the last four years of his life. "It is a pleasure to meet you at last."
Inai tilted his head with a serene smile. "Likewise Ryraso. I think I have a job to offer you."
End of Bird of a Wing Chapter 3. Continue reading Chapter 4 or return to Bird of a Wing book page.